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+# Row 271 (264d, #1776) design early look: draft 2 at 5ab7bcf4a (duckworth-0170)
+
+Reviewer: Duckworth. Author: Gizmoduck. Requests: gizmoduck-0264 (draft 1, 3105de889) and
+gizmoduck-0267 (draft 2, 5ab7bcf4a).
+Bar: docs/plans/2026-10-21_t1-sessions.md D7 and D8, and sage-2826.
+Code read at the measured base 2d0d407ba: broker.mjs, harness/src/runner.mjs and schema.sql.
+Static git reads only.
+
+## Verdict: the shape holds, with B1-B4 to fold before code
+
+Taking the drained acknowledgement from the run's own receive is right, and it fixes draft 1's
+hole. runner.mjs:361-364 clears `child` in the close handler after the group SIGKILL. The loop
+calls `message.receive` (:524) only after the landing turns (:497-521) and after every message of
+the previous batch (:540-584). So a receive is a turn boundary with no child, and D7.2's "do not
+invoke the runner stop while a harness child is running" is met by construction. With `child`
+null, the SIGTERM handler (:407-422) never arms the 5 s KILL. Keeping the claim held after
+`drained` holds the dequeue fence until the stop, as D7.2 asks.
+
+## Blockers (design, before code)
+
+- **B1. Messages routed into a clearing or retired session.** The fence covers only `thread.send`
+  and `thread.open`. `#sessionFor` (broker.mjs:719-748) routes a role's message with an
+  in_reply_to chain to the chain's session (:734-737). It routes a spec-notice chain to the
+  thread's default session (:740-741). Neither checks session state.
+  - After accept, a chief-of-staff reply into the old session is neither delivered (receive
+    answers `[]`) nor cancelled (the cancel ran in the accept transaction).
+  - After retire, it sits pending on a retired session for good.
+  - D7 says "fence new sends … to that session". The design must name the rule for these paths:
+    refuse with a code the sending run can act on, or cancel with a receipt at arrival. Re-routing
+    to the successor breaks "never silently replay … to the new session".
+  - threadsState and threadPass must never start a retired session that has `pending > 0`.
+  - Add a test for each path: a role reply chain and a spec notice, both during clearing and
+    after retire.
+- **B2. A claim after a no-holder accept.** A clear with no holder appends `drained` with run null
+  at accept. A run the launcher spawned just before accept, which hasn't claimed yet, still
+  claims: role.claim's thread branch (broker.mjs:4813-4832) checks revokes and an existing holder,
+  and nothing else.
+  - Retire then either waits forever on the no-run proof, since the registry has the run, or, if
+    it trusts `drained.run = null`, retires a session that a live run holds.
+  - D7 fences new launches as well as sends. role.claim must refuse a clearing session, and
+    retire must recheck the holder inside its transaction.
+  - Add a test: spawn, then clear, then claim.
+- **B3. One op space for clear and create.** `sessions` has `UNIQUE (thread, op)`
+  (schema.sql:263), and the successor row takes the clear op.
+  - A clear whose op some `session.create` already used passes accept. Its retire insert then
+    fails after the old run has already been stopped.
+  - The reverse case: `session.create` with a clear's op finds the successor row
+    (broker.mjs:5850-5853) and answers it as its own, or gives `session-op-conflict`.
+  - Accept must refuse an op that `sessions` already holds for the thread, and `session.create`
+    must refuse an op that `session_ops` holds. Test both directions.
+- **B4. `UNIQUE(thread, op, stage)` against a retryable start.** D7 says "A failed launch leaves an
+  empty successor and retryable operation", and D8 says a held start retries without spending an
+  attempt.
+  - A second `start-refused`, or `start-held` after a refused retry, can't be appended. The
+    journal then loses the later outcome or refuses the retry.
+  - Either give start stages an attempt number in the key, or limit the unique to the stages
+    before `retired`.
+  - Fix this before the schema step lands. Changing it afterwards costs another label.
+
+## Notes (non-blocking)
+
+- N1. "D7 defines no cancel" is inaccurate. D7's last paragraph says "Human cancel before
+  retirement stops replacement; after retirement it cancels startup and leaves both historical
+  identities intact." Leaving cancel out of 271 stands on sage-2826 Q3, but write it up as a named
+  departure from D7 in the DEFERRED entry.
+- N2. Name length. `name()` caps a session name at 200 characters (broker.mjs:323), so
+  `<old>-N` can overflow. Check it at accept and refuse with a code.
+- N3. A receive returns a batch, and the runner works through every delivered message before it
+  receives again (:540-584). Drain therefore waits for the whole batch, not one turn. Say so in
+  the contract's `clearing` text.
+- N4. D7.1 "recheck … lifecycle policy under the session fence" and D7.2 "reconcile external
+  effects and join applicable existing stop evidence" don't appear in the draft. Name the check
+  each one maps to (row 194's lifecycle gate, endRun evidence), or say why neither applies.
+- N5. Retire "ends the old claim". Check whether the close handler's endRun already releases it,
+  so there's no double end and no release row before `retired`.
+- N6. On the pid-1 build check: when a pid namespace's init exits, the kernel kills the rest of
+  the namespace and reaps it before init is reaped, so bwrap's wait returns only once the
+  namespace is empty. The test is still needed, as planned. Also confirm the sandbox argv really
+  sets `--as-pid-1` on the thread-run path.
+- N7. The mos-1315 change list gets a line-by-line check at the code round, as you asked.
+  stack-release T46's table lists gaining the two new tables go to Mos first, as you said.
+- N8. Schema label: row 206 has an approved manifest at 3l→3m (duckworth-0169). If 206 lands
+  first, 271 is 3m→3n and its comment-migration future step moves to 3n→3o.
diff --git a/docs/SESSIONS.md b/docs/SESSIONS.md
index c70ff861a..47185ee60 100644
--- a/docs/SESSIONS.md
+++ b/docs/SESSIONS.md
@@ -1506,3 +1506,4 @@ are never rewritten or removed; corrections are new entries.
 2026-10-22T16:47Z | Duckworth (Opus 5.5) | row 275 r3 957a9bfe0 check (duckworth-0167) | B1 cleared, N1 met, N2 left to 193a; no open early-look findings |
 2026-10-22T16:53Z | Duckworth (Opus 5.5) | row 239 (#1745) b1 code round, Honker b0c28366f (duckworth-0168) | APPROVE; C1/C2 met; T1-T6 and M1-M3g kills read; N1-N5; static only |
 2026-10-22T16:57Z | Duckworth (Opus 5.5) | row 206 (193b2, #1704) manifest review of 631a256ba (duckworth-0169) | APPROVE, C1-C2 bind the 275 rebase round, departures 1-7 accepted, N1-N4 |
+2026-10-22T16:59Z | Duckworth (Opus 5.5) | row 271 (264d, #1776) design early look, draft 2 5ab7bcf4a (duckworth-0170) | shape holds (receive-acknowledged drain), B1-B4 to fold before code, N1-N8 |